Gaia's Embrace
by BakaJin
Summary: Remy meets an unusual girl during an openhouse. Who is she really? How will Gambit excape the clutches of her broken soul? Set just after returning to the xmen from Antartica.
1. Chapter 1

Someone said I should keep writing, so I've decided to attempt to work on this story. I'm not overly sure where it's going yet but I figure it'll be kinda like the other one. . . have a very Japanese-esque ending. I'm also going on a knowledge of fan-fiction and not the real X-men series so. . . it won't be very accurate. That and I'm saying Gambit's an empath. Not sure if he really is, but for my story that's the way it is and I'm sticking with it.

"No way, I'm not going in there."

The voice broke into Remy's thoughts. He didn't recognize it, so the speaker had to be one of the student's relatives. Remy didn't like family weekend, the parents always seemed to be barely tolerant of mutants even though their own children were one.

"Oh come on please."

He recognized that one, it was one of the younger students, he didn't know her name though.

"No it's too cold in there."

Cold? Remy had been sensitive to the cold since his time in the antarctic, but it was mid September and even he couldn't complain it was cold.

"You're just a wimp."

Remy could hear the eye roll in the younger voice.

"Damn strait, you've known me for how long and haven't figured it out yet?"

For some reason the voice was laced with pride and some levity.

"Come on, I just want you to meet my teachers and friends."

Remy was slightly curious to see who this was.

"Can't they come out here? It's air conditioned in there."

The voice became whiney. Remy left his secluded spot.

"Wimp"

"Yeah I know, they should name a new part of the species after me, how's Homo Wimpus sound?"

Laughter followed the statement and Remy couldn't help but grin a little. He turned and saw the stranger's back. The woman had short brown hair and was wearing a black sweater jacket with khaki cargo pants. The younger girl, Sarah maybe, was tugging on her arm toward the door.

"Come on, please." As she pleaded she let go of the girl's arm and morphed slightly. Her eyes turned black and dilated, her skin turned slightly orange and her ears shifted to look like cat ears laying flat across her head.

"Not the eyes," a sigh, "alright boots, but on one condition." She held up a finger and the girl nodded. "You get me a jacket first."

The girl grinned and morphed back almost immediately. Before she could leave Remy made himself known by draping his duster over the shoulders of the woman.

"Ci mon petit."

She jumped and turned. Boots, snickered.

"Thank you kind si. . ." She trailed off immediately upon seeing his eyes. He was used to that, but not to the utter fascination that filled her blue eyes. Her eyes managed to hold fast to his and he couldn't break the bond. Boots snickered again in the background.

"Jez, this is Remy, he's one of the support staff I guess,"

Jez nodded slightly and Remy was stunned as her eyes changed from blue to green. She smiled.

"I guess I'll go in now."

Remy was filled with the oddest sensation as the girl walked away, an afterimage stayed and stared at him with soulful eyes before fading.

Remy turned and headed to his room but not before catching the low tones of the two.

"You like him don't you."

"I. . . Well," Jez stuttered, "His eyes." It was a near whisper filled with awe.

The next time Remy ran into the two was after dinner. Jez was still wearing his jacket and she gave him a large smile when she saw him enter the room. There was a spot open by her and he found himself drawn to it.

"Dis seat taken?"

She smiled and blushed slightly.

"No, not at all."

Boots looked at the two and leaned over.

"I'll leave you two to get to know each other, Anne wanted me to chat with her and her brother anyway." She walked off with a wink.

"Boots tells me you're quite the ladies man."

"So 'tey say."

His utter rejection by Rogue still hurt and he wasn't quite ready to get himself hurt again so soon, but the way she initially reacted to him had his curiosity piqued. No one had ever reacted kindly upon seeing his eyes.

"I. ." She froze, her eyes dilated slightly and stood quickly, "I need to use the bathroom, I'll be right back."

He could tell she was lying about something, but not what. It suddenly dawned on him that he couldn't feel her emotions. Everyone else's were constantly trying to rampage across his shields, but hers weren't.

As he was pondering this, Logan walked up to him.

"What did you do to frighten her." He growled.

Remy was sure his face shown his confusion. He didn't do anything.

"Non, dis Remy done nothin."

Logan didn't look like he believed him, and stalked off. Curiosity made Remy follow.

They found his jacket by one of the side exits of the school. The door wasn't shut properly. After moving through the portal, they noticed there was no one in sight. Jez must have bolted for the trees.

It didn't take long to find the curled up figure. Even in the sweater the girl was shivering, her eyes stared out unseeingly.

"Jez?" Remy tried to get her attention. He pulled gently on her chin until he was looking into those unfocused blue eyes.

Her eyes changed again, darkening into a green and suddenly the ethereal afterimage he'd seen before latched on to him and he passed out.

How was that? Is it OK?


	2. Chapter 2

The next thing Remy knew was darkness. He spun looking for some light.

"Eh? Is anybody there?"

He paused a moment when he realized his voice was different. Higher in pitch somehow.

"Quoi es heppening? (1)" He asked the darkness.

A faint green light appeared in the distance as if an answer. It was too dim for him to see anything else. Remy carefully made his way toward the light. It seemed to take forever for the light to draw near.

Finally, the glow intensified to the point that Remy could see his small wiry arms. He stopped in shock. They were the arms of a child. He looked down and saw scrawny knees. He quickly brought a hand to his face and felt smooth skin where a five o'clock shadow should be.

"Quoi l'enfer?" (2)

He didn't get an answer to his startled exclamation. It took him a moment longer before continuing toward the light. The lack of sounds were starting to get to him so he began humming slightly.

Remy couldn't tell how much time passed before he heard another voice. It was humming softly in a different tune. He stopped humming and continued forward. The light started to bathe the area and he could see a small area of variation. He headed toward it and soon it became a plastic cage holding two indistinct figures.

His feet began to move faster until he was running. The next thing he knew he was staring at the figure of an elder. He couldn't tell what gender it was. The back was stooped and a twisted gnarled hand was gently soothing a figure lying down on the bed.

The figure on the bed was slight. This one looked more like a female, but Remy couldn't be sure. Her eyes were closed and Remy could see lines of past pain etched across her face, even asleep.

The elder turned and he was caught in those piercing blue eyes.

"Why are you here?"

Just like the shape of the body, he couldn't tell the gender by the tone of voice either.

"Dis Remy don konnen."(3)

"Do you now?" The voice seemed to creak.

"Non." Remy was getting annoyed. He wanted to know what was going on and he wanted to know now.

The figure on the bed suddenly started twitching, he heard her voice cry out in pain. The elder was by her side as fast as possible and started making soothing noises while holding the slip of a girl close. Remy could see that the girl was emancipated. Her eyes passed around the small plastic room. As they passed by them, Remy was stunned to see the green eyes that had been showing through that girl's, Jez he thought her name was, eyes. It took another moment to notice that the elder seemed to be twitching as well, but still held the girl close.

"Hey," Remy shouted. "Quoi es heppening?" He didn't get a response. The two in the cage seemed to convulse for an eternity before they stopped. The elder took a few deep breaths before panting and moving to the small rickety chair.

"Tell me." Remy demanded before slamming his hand on the cage. He was scared, somehow he was transported to wherever here was and he would starve to death or worse if he did not get out of here soon.

The slam was enough to get the elder's attention again. Those ice blue eyes seemed to bare into his soul. The elder smiled slightly, somewhat ruefully.

"If I tell you little one," There was a pause to catch breath, "Then you would have to live." another breath, "With the knowledge."

"Knowledge is power." Remy calmed down a little. If the elder started talking, then he might find out soon.

"Ignorance is bliss." The elder retorted kindly before looking at him for a moment more. Remy fidgeted.

"But you seem bound," breath, "and determined to make," breath, "your time difficult on yourself."

Remy smiled a little. Maybe now the elder would tell him what was going on.

"You've found yourself," breath, "in the realm of souls."

The elder seemed to deflate as if the speech was too much. Remy was confused but did not say anything.

"I don't know," breath, "How you got here." Breath. "So I won't," breath, "try to tell you." Breath, "As for what, is happening." The elder glanced at the girl on the bed momentarily, "The earth is dying, I no longer have the, strength to stop," The elder broke off and rushed to the bed. The girl was whimpering.

"The spirit, the body, inexplicably linked. Weak body, sick soul. Weak soul, ill body." Those ice blue eyes returned to Remy's. Remy could see pain and confusion clouding them. He was confused, he did not understand what she was talking about. He knew it was important and profound, but could not figure it out. The elder's eyes moved back to the girl on the bed.

"Gaia, earth's spirit, Terra, earth's body, myself, I stop the link. Without Terra, Gaia weakens. Without Gaia, Terra slowly weakens. Now with Gaia, Terra would fall, apart. I'm weak, the link grows. My body dies, I am reborn, I might regain, strength." The pain filled eyes locked onto Remy again. "Another might, be able to take, my place as, the block." The elder looked away and shook the head slightly before continuing to sooth the girl, "But it is, too much to ask."

It looked like the elder would continue but the girl started screaming and twitching violently. Remy pushed on the glass hoping to get through somehow. Maybe if he charged it. He tried, but it did not work. The glass did start to flicker though. It seemed to soften, then spring back.

Remy fell on his bottom when he felt a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder and jaw. His other arm instinctively flew to the hurting limb. He examined it and could see nothing wrong.

"Quoi l'enfer?" He demanded and looked back to the elder. Only to see that the elder had collapsed and was now on the floor. A glance to the bed confirmed that the girl was still wailing and twitching.

"Quoi es heppening?" He demanded, but the elder did not move. He pounded his hands on the glass again. It seemed to bend to his fist more than the last time. The elder twitched every time his fist made contact. Eternity seemed to pass in an instant and the elder weakly rolled over. He could see pain etched in every movement and line in the old face.

"Go, Go" he could barely make out the words through the screeching of the girl.

"How?" All he'd been wanting to know all along was the answer to that question.

The elder painfully gestured the way he came and whispered "go" one more time before relaxing into unconsciousness.

Remy did the only thing he could think of, he ran back the way he had come. Soon the sound of the girl screaming quieted, the darkness started to grow and he hoped that he would not trip. It seemed like an eternity that he ran, but his muscles never got tired. Soon the pain in his jaw and arm started to distract him. His muscles seemed to get weighed down, and before he knew it, he was lying on his back and opening his eyes slowly.

End of chapter.

(1) What's happening?

(2) What the hell?

(3) This Remy doesn't know.

Author's Notes. First off, I'd like to say, thanks for your patients. I'm a lazy person, and I hope to only have one more chapter before the story is done. I guess it's a short. Truest Tears, There are two answers to your question, there's the original reason, and the one I came up with after you pressed the question. The original reason is that I put a bit of myself in that. I checked the weather reports and figured that I would be freezing my A$$ off there, so the character is cold.

The answer I came up with coincided very well with what I had planned out anyway. I did answer it in the text, but I'm sure it was very confusing. Heheh. I think I'll be mean and save the plain text reasons for after I finish the story.


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